Artist: Sorley Title: Stuck With You EP Label: Desert Hearts Records Cat. #: DH126 Format: Digital Release Date: February 10th 2023 Tracklist: Stuck With You Rip It If You Only Knew
DJ and producer Sorley will get released soon on Desert Heart with the three tracker ‘Stuck With You EP’, delivering some hot and juicy house stuff as he already did on labels such as Cuttin’ Headz, Untidy, Moon Harbour and Knee Deep In Sound. The title track opens the game featuring a distinctive vocal and an arousing mood, the 909 drums sound very well and add warmth to the whole song. Follows ‘Rip It’ that cools down the atmosphere with a well packed electro inspired instrumental but keeps high the attention through the main synth melody, finally ‘If You Only Knew’ repristinates the dancefloor attitude of the whole EP.
Valeria Croft drops a spellbinding deep tech release on Canadian record label Suleiman Records and alongside her two originals the EP also features a remix by The Mekanism.
Based in Finland, Valeria Croft is a talented DJ and skilled producer who is a core member of the club scene in Helsinki. She plays regularly at some of her home city’s best underground events and her productions have been released on labels such as Meatbean Germany, RA+RE France, Kanja and Render Obedience. She has previously featured a remix on Suleiman Records, but this is Valeria Croft’s first time releasing original material via the record label.
On remix duty, The Mekanism is a French artist from Paris who is known globally for his deep and stripped back style with groovy basslines and techy percussion. Along with being in constant demand as a DJ, he is also an accomplished producer who has released on labels ranging from Robsoul Recordings to Moan.
“Thankful” opens the release with trippy vocals nestled between the flowing rhythms of crisp percussion and ambient pads. Bleeping textures and dubby chords add to the track’s psychedelic vibe and it unfolds with a steady momentum that will captivate any dance floor.
The Mekanism’s remix of Thankful sequences the percussion into jackin’ groove with chunked up percussion and a funky bassline. Keeping the original’s stripped back vibe, he makes more prominent use of the vocal sample and adds dramatic strings that crank up the tension.
“Affectionate” is a deep and sensual track with liquid textures and bubbling synths that intermingle with the fizzing hi-hats and soothing pads. The acid-tinged bassline grounds the track with a hypnotic groove the ripples with modulation.
Sound Quelle is an artist who made his path mostly into the progressive house field, getting recognized since 2010 for his dreamy and trance inspired productions. He had the opportunity to get released on notorious labels such as Black Hole, Monster Tunes and Freegrant, anyway we can find most of his artistic expression under Monstercat Silk and Enhanced Progressive / Colorize: thanks to these two labels he made two albums, ‘Iridescent’ in 2019 and ‘Trait’ in 2020. This year starts straight for him setting another milestone, Colorize will host this week his third album titled ‘Tarazed’, featuring a delightful selection of 17 songs that span into deep, progressive and organic house. In this alluvion of emotions the artist has been capable to sculpt graceful instrumentals and tender melodies, accompanied by mild and fascinating vocals. Some 80s inspired vibes can be traced in ‘Ehho’ and ‘Space Has No End’, representing the artist’s effort to introduce some cohesive elements into the whole album concept.
Artist: Kito Kempere, Adam Evald, Аhtoxa МС Title: Let’s Hold Our Hands Together Remixes Label: System One Hundred And Eight (108) Cat. #: S108-011R Format: Digital, vinyl Release Date: Janaury 27th 2023 Tracklist: Lipelis Disco Mix Eden Burns Remix Eden Burns Dub Original Disco Mix
Oldschool inspired theme ‘Let’s Hold Our Hands Together’ receives a well made remix treatment by Lipelis and Eden Burns. Disco and phat house sounds get revisited genuinely without smasching the original, while the bpm speed keeps moderate the playback goes smooth and contagious, spreading a carefree vibe and an easy listening approach to the music. The original was released in November 2022 by the international collaboration risen between Kito Kempere, the vocalist Adam Evald and Аhtoxa МС on the trumpet; the remixes are already available on digital format and the vinyl version will see the light in the next months (just have a look on the Bandcamp link above for further updates).
Artist: Various Title: Winter Sampler V Label: All Day I Dream Cat. #: ADID093 Format: Digital Release Date: January 27th 2023 Tracklist: A1: Limara & Dimitri Nakov – Nocturne (feat. Natacha Atlas) A2: Camelõt – Moon In The Desert B1: Fulltone – Nowhere To Go B2: Vandelor – Happy Man C1: Somelee – Sacramental Song C2: Valdovinos – Extremely In Green D1: Double Touch – The Promises ft. Reigan D2: BAI – Kalevala E1: Kamilo Sanclemente – Go Home E2: Atsushi Asada & Hiroyuki Kajino – Utopia F1: Ramiro Drisdale – Pound Away F2: Arina Mur & Fluida – I Saw A Cat
All Day I Dream shares the fifth episode of the annual compilation ‘A Winter Sampler’, selecting 12 fine and tasty productions that readily represent the vibe and the sound coming from the Lee Burridge’s label imprint. Smoothness and sensitivity prevail in all these songs over roughness and harshness, elevating the potential of organic house and progressive. It doesn’t matter that the tracklist doesn’t features big names in the scene, that means the music itself has been the whole focus of this track selection.
After the most recent apparison on the Watergates’ ‘Twenty Years’ compilation, Stephan Jolk makes it right again with the two tracker ‘Sleeping Beauty EP’. Both the originals share a wonderful vibe, which is identifiable of this notorious German label/party imprint. As outcome warm and tribal inspired motifs interface with mellow synths, creating an overall mood that arouses carefree and happiness.
Artist: Various Title: Siamese Anthology V Label: Siamese Cat. #: siamese027 Format: Digital Release Date: February 3rd 2023 Tracklist: 01. 19:26, Animal Picnic – XX 02. James Harcourt – Bloom 03. Mark Hoffen – The Edge of Awakening 04. Jos & Eli – Dirty Velvet 05. Citizen Kain – Ricochet 06. Tal Fussman, Hard To Tell – Rega 07. Martin Waslewski – Running Back 08. Avangart Tabldot – Way Back Home 09. Avidus – Black Chapel 10. Sam Shure – Viscosity
Siamese’s trend setting sound shows off again as its best with the fifth ‘Siamese Anthology’ compilation, featuring some of the best demos collected by the Adriatique duo in their musical journey. Mentalism and emotionalism prevail over raw energy and kinky dancefloor vibes, allowing time and space to the listener or the performer to engage differently with the whole sound. As expected in the official press release is given the story behind each production (read below):
“Raffa aka 19:26 teamed up with Animal Picnic for a collaboration that caught our attention right away. This might be the track we play the longest of the whole package. It has a trancy touch but just enough to not cross over. James Harcourt is another new name to Siamese. Gladly we can introduce him with ‘Bloom’, a recent highlight in the more melodic parts of our sets. We love the clever integrated sample! Next up is Mark Hoffen with ‘The Edge of Awakening’ in a perfect manner. Like often in our longer sets, a celestial moment always has its place. Jos & Eli are very productive and always send us great music to test on the road. We chose the chord heavy ‘Dirty Velvet’ to set their stage on Siamese. More to come in the future! Citizen Kain is known for powerful sounding music and ‘Ricochet’ is exactly that. A slow building tension transitions into a suspense filled break followed by an unexpected drop. A secret weapon we are lucky to have on the label.
Tal Fussman & Hard To Tell deliver a stompy, kick driven track with well chosen and timed percussions. The song is tidy and everything sits at the right spot. Bomb alert! Martin Waslewski was another name new us but this quickly changed after ‘Running Back’. The initial version of the track featured another vocal sample that he later exchanged to the final one. A crucial move and it feels as it never has been different. Welcome to Siamese Martin. Avangart Tabldot are a very talented triplet of musicians from Turkey, exploring different ways of boundary pushing music. ‘Way Back Home’ might be one of the first works they sent us but the timelessness speaks for itself. Sam Shure’s ‘Viscosity’ is another gem we gladly chose for the new Anthology. While maintaining a steady groove, the track slowly builds itself into an epic affair where the bold and intelligent melody sucks you in eventually. Avidus concludes the more melodic mood of the compilation with ‘Black Chapel’. The ethereal choirs convey both melancholy but also security and warmth.”
Artist: Groove Armada Title: Rescue Me Label: Get Physical Cat. #: GPM699 Format: Digital Release Date: February 2nd 2023 Tracklist: 1. DJ Island Remix 2. Roland Leesker’s You Got To Dance Edit 3. Original Mix
Groove Armada’s ‘Rescue Me’ was previously published in 2014 (‘Stairwell Felony EP’), that’s a great theme which definitely caught the attention of many house / techno music fans, it was played so many times and of course appreciated worldwide. We’ll soon put our hands on the remix treatment: DJ Island goes underground editing the main parts into an underground and house infected tune, anyway unlike him Roland Leesker choose a cautious approach to his reintepretation, just doing some tiny edits to elevate the raw and introspective potential of the original vibe.
Three weeks later the publication of “Markus Homm, Brad Brunner & AG Swifty – The Big Con” the Pokerflat Recordings’ sister label Sublease Music is ready to host a marvellous EP made by the hands of Danny B, a good dj and producer from Spain who got released in nice underground labels such as Step Rec., Time Has Changed, Variety Music and Frequenza Black Label. His brand new publication ‘Suspect’ features a particular mixture of deep and dub techno sound, a blend which call back our memories to nice times spent in both club our lounge environemnts. Gareth Cole appears as remixer editing the title track, who adds over a house swing to the instrumental.
Artist: Alex Dolby Title: Functional Elements Label: sequenzial shift Cat. #: SQZ03 Format: Digital Release Date: January 27th 2023 Tracklist: 01. Function one 02. Function Two 03. Function three 04. Function Four 05. Function Five 06. Function Six 07. Function Seven 08. Function Eight
Sequenzial Shift is a new label project from Alex Dolby based in Italy that will focus on deeper and more experimental cuts.
A veteran artist of the scene and highly prized producer known for releasing on Developer’s Modularz, Emmanuel’s ARTS, Marco Bailey’s MB Elektronics, Teksupport and his own Affekt Recordings.
His educated sound is much loved around the world and Functional Elements is an album that steps into leftfield territory with raw ideas and esoteric, analogue creations with modular vibes and dystopian, ambient dubs.
“Function One” is a crackling, gritty analogue ride with haunting tones. “Function Two” is a sparse ambient dub. “Function Three” has a sci-fi feel with pulsing shocks. “Function Four” has a broken beat and abstract melody. “Function Five” is a warm textured journey with cavernous kicks. “Function Six” is a brooding trip of a tension. “Function Seven” is a beatless, looping, subdued jaunt. “Function Eight” is a hypnotic and urgent piece with a subtle, morphing feel.
